Could you explain me the meaning of THE COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS?

Hi Happy Mama,

Firstly, God bless you. I remember when the Bible was so new to me too. Be encouraged, when you find the hard verses just keep digging and you will find the answers you need!

Mat 8:20 (NKJV) And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.

"Son of Man" is a term that Jesus used to refer to Himself many times. It is one of the titles of the Jewish Messiah, and is found in the prophecies about Him in Daniel 7:13-14.

Mat 8:21-22 (NKJV) Then another of His disciples said to Him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.

We must remember that these were all Jewish people, thus to understand this statement it is important to know and understand the Jewish customs concerning mourning the death of a relative - called "sitting shivah." Basically, the family stays at home, receives visitors, and mourns the dead person. An example of such is found in John 11:19-20.

Understanding that, we realise that this was not a man whose father had died and was lying stinking at home, awaiting burial. If so, this young man would have been at home with his family. No, his father was very much alive. This son was asking to go home and become a disciple of Jesus later on - one day in the future - after his father's eventual death.

And so Jesus' answer was simply, "Let the dead bury their own dead." In other words, Jesus was saying that there are two choices: life or death - and if you won't be His disciple because of other commitments you have chosen death instead of life.

I hope that helps, please feel free to email me if there is anything I can help you with.

God bless you!

Although salvation through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ is a free gift of God’s grace, it does not come cheaply. It cost Jesus His life, and, for some believers, it has cost them their lives. Jesus did not hide the fact that following Him would not be an easy road. He clearly said, that those who follow Him would face persecution (Mark 21:12). He did not ask His followers to endure something He did not, nor could not endure. For some people, actually for the majority, this notion causes them to leave Jesus (John 6:60,66), but the true, strong believer will follow Jesus despite persecution. They, in fact, will rejoice in persecution (Matthew 5:11-12; 2 Corinthians 12:10), like Paul, knowing that His service has not been in vain and that he is counted worthy of sharing with Christ in His suffering (Philippians 3:10). It takes full commitment - that is what Jesus demands of His followers. This site will explain will explain your question... http://www.answers.com/the%20cost%20of%20following...

HA! Sorry, yet that is precisely the different. I grew up my entire existence being taught as you quoted from the Bible that there is a value to pay obivously not in money and cents although. I went further into this i found out that human beings have been martyred interior the main INHUMANE strategies for his or her ideals and subsequently I scoffed at your question. Assuming you reside in u . s . of america (no duh, top?) you purely isn't killed on your christian ideals, through fact that is against the regulation yet, in case you have not already observed our international has long previous off the deep end into sin and in case you start up sinning continuously like an unbeliever you're an unbeliever. all of us sins yet a saved guy or woman can ask God for forgiveness and redemption and additionally they might make the attempt to not do it lower back yet with all this evil interior the international that is seems such as you taking your self out of each interest through fact of that is worldliness. yet believe in God and he will come again for you and bear in mind from Psalms a million: "consequently the ungodly shall not stand interior the judgement, nor sinner interior the congregation of the rightous. For the Lod is ordinary with the way of the righteous, however the way of the ungodly shall perish." God Bless

Jesus taught that his followers would be hated and persecuted as he was, some even being delivered up to death for being his disciples.

When Jesus spoke the words of Matthew 8:20-22, he had already embarked on the preaching work that had to take place prior to his execution. I think he was trying to tell the one who wanted to follow him that it would not be an easy journey. And to the one who wanted to bury his parents first, I think Jesus was telling him that the time had come to preach repentance, and that there was no time to wait for his parents to die before doing that work.

Matthew 8:20-22 (New International Version)

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

20Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

21Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

22But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

What this is talking about, is leaving EVERYTHING of you old, (pre-born again) life, & following Jesus with everything that you are!

20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Jesus was Homeless

21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

A followerofJesus wants to bury his dad before following Jesus

22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Jesus says let those who are dead "in their sins" or lost bury the dead . Follow me for I have the keys to everlsating life

The cost of following Jesus is your life. He gave His for us and we are to do the same---I don't mean to go out and literally kill yourself, but rather crucify your fleshly desires or your wants and needs to put others before yourself. As long as we make Christ our priority, we'll put others ahead of ourselves every time. Jesus left us with the commands to love the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That in a nutshell is the cost of following Jesus. Blessings.

When you decide to follow Jesus you start on a journey which changes your life so that it is focused on God and you put your effort into trying to do your bit to create his 'rule' here on earth.

This is not easy. You may have to give up things. your relationships may change. In that way it costs you - but, believe me, you get an awful lot out of it.

Christ says “give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth or crown it or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires that you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked -- the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you myself: my own will shall become yours.”

* * *

The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self -- all your wishes and precautions to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. But what we are trying to do is to remain what we call “ourselves,” to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life and yet to be “good.” We are all trying to let our mind and heart go there own way -- centered on money or pleasure or ambition and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, “a thistle cannot produce figs.” If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short: but I shall produce grass and no wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and re-sown.

there is no cost it is free. Maybe u may think as this as a cost but it is when people perscuate u. I don't think of that as a cost but as a joy